Zamara
|fgcolor= |race=Protoss (spirit) |image=DahlZamara SC-DTS Art1.jpg |imgdesc=Zamara (left) visage linked with Dahl's |imgsize=200px |gender=Female |eyes=Blue |birth= |death= |faction=Protoss Empire (?–2500) Tassadar's followers (2500) Daelaam : Khalai |job=*Preserver }} Zamara was a protoss preserver, a profession open only to those few protoss who have the ability to preserve the memories of all members of their species. The knowledge she held on the true motivations of the xel'naga made her a target among many groups of the sector, and forced her to transplant her consciousness into the mind of the terran Jacob Ramsey.Golden, Christie. StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #1: Firstborn. Pocket Star Books, May 2007. ISBN 0-7434-7125-3. Biography Zamara accompanied Tassadar's Expeditionary Force as a neutral observer. She oversaw the purification of Chau Sara and Tassadar's refusal to destroy the Norad II. Tassadar was ordered to return to Aiur to face punishment, humiliation and possible execution for his failure to stem the zerg tide. However, he felt a psionic call from Sarah Kerrigan, a terran being transformed into zerg. He sent his fleet away except for the Gantrithor. He tried to send Zamara to the safety of the Sanctum, but she refused. On Char, Zamara was forbidden to leave the Gantrithor for fear of being attacked by the Dark Templar. Eventually, Tassadar came to trust the dark templar and Zeratul met Zamara. He told her that the Dark Templar had their own way of preserving memories, and of a pink-skied world where he could find sanctuary.Golden, Christie (June 30, 2009). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #3: Twilight. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-0-7434-7129-9. Zamara would spend a short time on Shakuras. Nemaka Sometime after the death of Tassadar, Zamara was traveling in the carrier, Xa'lor, when it was attacked by Ulrezaj's forces. She tried to escape in an escape pod, but she was attacked by a Dark Templar assassin sent by Ulrezaj, who wished to kill all preservers to destroy their knowledge of the xel'naga and their true motives. She was able to read his mind and learn who his benefactor was, as well as why he had sent the assassin.Golden, Christie (November 27, 2007). StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga #2: Shadow Hunters. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 0-7434-7126-1. She crash-landed in the "dead" xel'naga temple on the nearby world of Nemaka. She was let be, as her chances of survival were nil due to the lack of atmosphere. As it was, she was bleeding to death. Using the ara'dor, she figured out how to open and close a hidden door. She wrote a message in blood near the hidden door: "My brothers or sisters who have come this far—within, a secret lies preserved. To enter, think as the Wanderers from Afar would. Think of perfection." She then sealed herself inside, using the power of the temple to preserve her life energy. After Zamara's descent, various teams of terran archaeologists, dispatched by the heir to the Terran Dominion throne, Valerian Mengsk, visited the temple in an attempt to learn its secrets. They all felt uneasy, as Zamara was attempting to contact them telepathically, but only the fourth expedition (led by Jake Ramsey) was able to overcome the door's puzzle and locate her. Ramsey and a companion, a mercenary named Rosemary Dahl, discovered her in the time bubble. They had reason to believe that a dead protoss lay in the chamber (due to the dried blood they had discovered earlier) so they were surprised to find she was still alive, albeit dying. Dahl reacted with violence; Zamara reacted with telekinesis. She used a strange psionic technique, using the powers of the temple itself, to effectively transfer her essence into the brain of Jake Ramsey and "shut off" the time bubble. Her body quickly died, but she was still alive within Ramsey's mind. Ramsey was initially unable to deal with Zamara's presence, and fell unconscious due to the flood of memories. Spirit Advisor Ramsey's medical diagnosis showed that he hadn't been attacked; rather, his brain was changing, especially in areas related to memories, emotion and other areas that were barely understood by science. Unfortunately, these changes caused Ramsey to eventually develop a brain tumor. During this time, Ramsey was nearly comatose, reliving memories of the Aeon of Strife that Zamara was allowing him to experience through the eyes of the protoss Temlaa and his travels with Savassan (later named Khas). Eventually Ramsey woke up and discovered, to his own surprise, that he could now read minds. He realized that Dahl and her mercenaries were going to betray him to Valerian Mengsk and the Dominion, so they imprisoned him and the rest of the civilians. When Ramsey was left alone for a short time, Zamara "revealed" herself to Ramsey. After convincing Ramsey that he wasn't "going insane" or "hearing things" she then told him why he was seeing memories. She was unhappy that she had been discovered by a terran, especially a non-psychic one, which meant she had to modify his brain to handle what she was doing to him (which explained why Ramsey was suddenly a telepath). She would rather deliver her information to the protoss, although at some point, the terrans would also have to be told. She told Ramsey that she wouldn't allow anyone, not even Ramsey, to interfere in her mission to relay her secret. As Ramsey absorbed this, she began to "explore" him, even temporarily taking control of his motor functions (Ramsey was so frightened that she let him go). Ramsey was imprisoned aboard a battlecruiser called the Gray Tiger along with, surprisingly, Rosemary Dahl and her own team of mercenaries (she had also been betrayed). Ramsey was watched over by a neurally resocialized marine, Marcus Wright, who had befriended him on Nemaka. Zamara saw a chance for freedom; Wright's crimes had been particularly heinous (murder and cannibalism) and if she freed him from his resocialization, he would run amok and cause enough distraction to enable Ramsey to escape. Ramsey, however, was against the idea. Zamara had to use Ramsey's brain to accomplish the task, and she warned him that doing this against his will might damage his brain. Ramsey still refused, so Zamara simply overrode him and broke the resocialization, freeing Wright's old criminal memories and causing them to be unusually potent. Wright was happy to be "freed" and allowed Ramsey to escape. Ramsey took Dahl with him and escaped the battlecruiser in a lifepod. Unfortunately, Zamara still had to make him see memories from the Aeon of Strife, so Ramsey fell unconscious during the escape and spent most of his time in the lifepod asleep and reliving the memories. Rosemary Dahl chose Dead Man's Rock as her destination, a planet outside of the influence of the Terran Dominion, where she would meet up with her former employer and lover, Ethan Stewart. Shortly after arriving, she and Ramsey were ambushed; Zamara instructed Ramsey in using his new-found telepathic abilities to find a way out of the ambush. Once the group had reached Stewart's compound (and Ramsey had undergone more dream memories) she cautioned him to keep the contents of his memories secret, despite the curiosity of his rescuer, Ethan Stewart. She even used an ability to remove alcohol from his system to clear his thinking. Eventually she tried to reveal to Ramsey the memory of how the protoss rediscovered the psionic link near the end of the Aeon of Strife. Ramsey was so frightened of the thought that he refused; Zamara had to persuade him to see it, on the grounds that he wouldn't learn the secret if he didn't, and that would mean that secret couldn't be transmitted. When Ramsey experienced the memory, he also temporarily created a psychic link with the terrans in the compound, which revealed the betrayal planned by Ethan Stewart; Ramsey would be shipped to the Dominion so his mind would be tortured and all of its information extracted, then he would be killed, just like Dahl had initially planned on doing to him. She and Ramsey hatched a plan to escape, but would need the help of Rosemary Dahl. Dahl had no reason to distrust Stewart until Ramsey convinced her to hack into his communication system, where she discovered that Stewart was in communication with Valerian Mengsk and had discussed inflicting neural resocialization on Dahl. Together the group disabled specific security cameras; Zamara used mental suggestions on several guards to get past them, then used her martial arts techniques (in Ramsey's body) to nearly kill guards who didn't fall for her psionic trick. They also took Ethan Stewart prisoner, as they couldn't escape without him. The group reached the hangar where they intended to steal a system runner. Unfortunately, there they were attacked by Phillip Randall, Stewart's valet and hired assassin, who was armed with drugged darts and was extremely proficient in the martial arts. Stewart took this opportunity to attempt to escape. Zamara used her martial arts abilities but, hampered by Ramsey's different body, found herself losing to Randall. She used a strange telekinetic energy ball attack to kill Randall, even though this could harm Ramsey's brain (whose modifications were not yet complete). Zamara, Ramsey and Dahl escaped in the system runner (once Stewart wasn't needed anymore, Dahl shot him down) but were stopped by a Dominion armada. Ramsey came up with a technique that would help them escape; he established a psionic link with everyone nearby, reading their innermost thoughts (and causing everyone to read each other's thoughts on a very deep level). The distraction enabled Ramsey to escape, although Zamara was displeased as the Khala was not meant for terrans. This technique drew the attention of Devon Starke (a ghost employed by Valerian Mengsk), Kerrigan and Ulrezaj. Starke realized that Zamara wanted to rejoin her people, while Kerrigan and Ulrezaj both wished to acquire the preserver for their own reasons. On the Run Again Zamara did not tell Ramsey about his tumor (or many other things) but did plan to save his life. She knew of a Dark Templar technique which could store a personality within an extremely pure khaydarin crystal; unfortunately the only crystal of such purity she knew about was located in massive caverns underneath the surface of Aiur; the very caverns explored by Khas. She began teaching Ramsey about the life of the great Protoss Executor Adun, seen through the eyes of his elderly friend Vetraas. The party's system runner reached Aiur, following Zamara's instructions, but was quickly damaged beyond repair by the zerg which had remained on the world. (Zamara had incorrectly assumed the zerg had left.) The group was saved by a band of protoss stranded upon Aiur after the warp gate was disabled. These protoss, calling themselves the Shel'na Kryhas ("Those Who Endure"), were led by Templar Ladranix. Most of its members, however, were of the Khalai Caste. Ladranix was in awe of preservers such as Zamara and pledged his group's assistance to her cause. However, Zamara wouldn't tell even him the entirety of her plans. Ladranix warned her that the caverns she wished to reach were inhabited by another group of stranded protoss, the Tal'darim ("the Forged"), who were losing their connection to the Khala (much like the protoss of the Aeon of Strife) and wouldn't let anyone into their caverns. In addition, some Shel'na Kryhas deserted to the Tal'darim, in part because the Tal'darim were losing fewer members to the zerg. The Shel'na Kryhas were reluctant to attack the Tal'darim to clear the path for fear of creating another Aeon of Strife and also because they would be outnumbered, although they would do so for a preserver. The group decided to send stealthy mercenary Rosemary Dahl to scout the caverns, hoping to find a safe way in. Unfortunately, she was captured by a band of Tal'darim led by former Templar Alzadar and subjected to the addictive drug Sundrop. The Tal'darim and their Benefactor, the Xava'tor, desired preservers for their own reasons, and told her to lure Ramsey (and therefore Zamara) into their grasp. Dahl returned two days later, saying the cavern was too well-guarded. She was unable to betray her comrades, admitting what had happened to Ramsey. Zamara detoxified her and eventually her addiction was broken. From these events Zamara determined that the Xava'tor was Ulrezaj, a dark archon formed from seven Dark Templar. This shocked Alzadar, as the Tal'darim loathed the Dark Templar. Zamara also revealed that Ulrezaj had sent a minion to try to kill her, and that he had been destroying the preservers. The group used Dahl to lure Alzadar out, ambushed and detoxified him, then inducted him back to the Khala. Zamara needed to acquire the pure khaydarin crystal from the room Savassan and Temlaa had visited before, but the Xava'tor had declared this room off-limits to even the Tal'darim. Zamara finally told Ramsey the reason she desired a piece of the chamber's giant crystal; to store herself so her presence would no longer contribute to Ramsey's brain tumor. Ramsey hadn't known about the tumor, and he and Dahl were upset at this. Zamara knew of Khas' secret pathway into the caverns and the crystal's chamber. She led Ramsey, Dahl, Alzadar, Ladranix and a group of Shel'na Kryhas to it without alerting the Tal'darim. Ladranix acquired the crystal, avoiding strange vats to do so, but on their way out Alzadar accidentally triggered an alarm which summoned the Tal'darim. Alzadar and some Shel'na Kryhas remained behind to cover the party's retreat. Unfortunately, the way out was surrounded by zerg, led by Kerrigan's new acquisition, an infested Ethan Stewart. Facing off against the zerg and striking a temporary alliance with Dominion forces sent by Valerian Mengsk and led by Devon Starke, the party made it to the warp gate. Zamara intended to reactivate it, enabling the party and the Shel'na Kryhas to escape... only to find it had been sabotaged by a blast from Jim Raynor's gauss rifle. The Shel'na Kryhas and Dominion forces (along with Alzadar, returning with a band of reformed Tal'darim) held off the zerg while Zamara and Dahl worked on the device, but the battle took a darker turn as Ulrezaj made a personal appearance. Despite all the forces turning against him, Ulrezaj was still winning. Zamara gave Ramsey the memories of Adun's final moments, and with them Ramsey was able to instruct the protoss how to fight Ulrezaj. This gave the allies enough time to enable Dahl and Ramsey (and therefore Zamara) to escape through the warp gate to Shakuras. However, most of the Shel'na Kryhas were destroyed in the battle, and the fate of Ulrezaj is unknown to them. Darkness The warp gate on Shakuras was redirected, resulting in Jake Ramsey and Zamara traveling to a frigid planet. Zamara used her own memories to show Ramsey both Zeratul and Tassadar, as she accompanied Tassadar on the fateful trip to Char where he first met the dark templar. Zamara then used the warp gate to travel to Zeratul's sanctuary; a calming, pink-skied planet. They met Zeratul, whose guilt had driven him into exile. After many days of trying, Ramsey managed to break Zeratul out of his lethargy and Zamara revealed the secret of the xel'naga and the hybrids. Together, they traveled to Ehlna, where she shared one last memory with Zeratul; the location of a xel'naga temple on the planet Pegasus. Krythkal, alysaar'vah of the alysaar who preserve the memories of the dark templar in khaydarin crystals specially modified by the unique energies of Ehlna, began the transference ritual. In a dreamlike state Zamara and Jake conversed and she revealed that she would likely cease to exist once the memories were transferred. They discovered this is not the case as she was being placed into an extremely pure crystal which had not been modified by Ehlna's energies. However, a renewed Ulrezaj attacked the temple. In a last act to defeat Ulrezaj and save the protoss on Ehlna, she imprisoned him in the crystal with her using the moon's nexus of energy, plunging her into darkness and leaving her fate unknown. In the aftermath of the Battle of Ehlna, the crystal containing her and Ulrezaj was transported to Shakuras to be guarded. Personality and Traits Zamara was tall and purple-skinned with pale blue eyes. She wore robes of white and lavender. She possessed the long psionic appendages of a Khalai. While a follower of the Khala, she professed no hatred of the Dark Templar. Abilities Zamara has demonstrated a wide range of mental abilities. She has created a time warp, sealed part of a xel'naga temple, unleashed telepathic communication, transferred her mind into a terran's brain and then modified it, used telekinesis skillfully, cleared a terran (twice) of toxins, created energy ball attacks, read minds, implanted telepathic suggestions and even easily undid neural resocialization. As a preserver, she also has an eidetic memory, which is very useful when it comes to navigation. She can even sense the presence of zerg to a degree. In addition, Zamara was very well trained in the martial arts, which she learned in her youth. She had great knowledge of xel'naga technology and Dark Templar lore. Trivia "Zamara" is one of the league names in StarCraft II. References Category:Protoss characters of the Dark Templar Saga